Message from Mary-Beth Cooper concerning bear that was on campus earlier today

As many of you are aware, a young bear was found in the Sol Heumann quad this morning. Staff from the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Environmental Conservation and Bureau of Wildlife, along with RIT’s Public Safety, worked together to make sure both the bear and our students stayed safe. The cub was tranquilized by professionals, removed from campus and is currently being medically evaluated. It will then be transported to the Southern Tier of New York and be released into the wild.

Thanks to the extraordinary professionalism of those mentioned above for helping to bring this incident to a successful closure. Additionally, the Department of Residence Life worked with our students to remain safely indoors during the incident.

Though incidents like this are rare, we applaud the efforts of all who were involved in keeping our campus safe.

If you have questions concerning this incident, please direct them to RIT Public Safety, at 585-475-2853.